Palace Cinemas Pty Ltd (Palace Cinemas) has paid a penalty of
$10,800 after being issued with an infringement notice by the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission, as a result of ACCC concerns with
Palace Cinemas online pricing practices.

The ACCC issued an infringement notice because it had reasonable
grounds to believe that Palace Cinemas had breached the Australian
Consumer Law (ACL) by failing to prominently disclose the total single
price, including the compulsory booking fee, for cinema tickets
purchased using its online booking process.

The ACCC was concerned that Palace Cinemas made a part-price
representation without prominently specifying a single total cinema
ticket price throughout the booking process.

This sort of conduct has the potential to affect the purchasing
decisions of consumers who focus on the advertised price, without being
aware of the final price which includes additional fees that have to be
paid as part of the transaction, such as booking fees. It may also
reduce the extent to which consumers shop around because searching and
comparing prices between websites is made more difficult, Mr Sims said.

This outcome follows broader ACCC engagement with the online cinema
ticketing industry, aimed at improving pricing practices to ensure that
the advertised prices of cinema tickets do not exclude mandatory
applicable booking fees.

The ACCC is pleased that its focus on clearer pricing by cinemas
selling movie tickets online has resulted in some improvements.
Consumers now have access to more straightforward pricing information
which enables them to make more informed decisions about buying movie
tickets online, Mr Sims said.

The payment of a penalty following the issue of an infringement
notice is not an admission of a contravention of the ACL. The ACCC can
issue an infringement notice if it has reasonable grounds to believe a
person has contravened certain consumer protection laws.